I visited Kaalfontein this morning and was shocked at the deterioration of the situation. The riverside land-grab and dumping is continuing at an enormous scale. The middle part of the wetland has now become a large informal settlement and the dumping is now right into the stream in certain areas. The danger these people face from flooding is enormous. The stream is highly polluted with sewerage and rubbish is still thrown inside because the street in front of the wetland says they have never had rubbish removal, now rows of shacks without services have been added in front of them. Sadly the bags from our previous cleanup were never removed and were eventually burned together with tyres. I tried to dissuade the tyre burning which is happening on a large scale, to sell the metal wires inside. The one guy says he's been doing it for years to feed his family. The tyre burning is another widespread problem adding to our already polluted environment and atmosphere. We're meeting there tomorrow with high ranking officials to try and find some solutions.’
Comments